Rubber overshoe.



E. A. SAUNDERS.

RUBBER OVERSHOE. APPLICATION. FILED JAN- 16. 1917.

' 11. 3 4M Patented Sept. 4, 191?.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

E. A. SAUNDERS.

RUBBER OVERSHOE. APPLICATION FILED JAN-16.1917- Patented Sept. 4, 1917 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

EMMETT A. SAUNDERS, OF SOUTH BEND, INDIANA.

R BBER OVERSHOE.

resaasa.

Specification of Letters Batent.

Patented Sept. d, 1191 Y,

Application filed January 16, 1917. Serial No. 1423M.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EMMETT A. SAUNDERS,

a citizen of the United States, residing at South Bend, in the county of St, Joseph and v State of Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rubber Overshoes, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to rubber overshoes, and has for its principal object to provide a construction of overshoe that will improve the holding or gripping qualities of the heel portion of the overshoe on the heel portion of the shoe'on which it is Worn. i

To prevent the heel of the overshoe from slipping down inwalking, various structural expedients have heretofore been adopted, all of which are accompanied by one or more objectionable characteristics or results. i The most common method is to form the over shoe with a sole that springs upwardly from theball of the foot to the toe, as compared with its position when worn, whereby the distance from the toe to the upperend of the heel is somewhat shorter before theovershoe is put on than ,whenit is on the shoe of the wearer. By reason of this construction, when the overshoe is fitted on the leather I shoe, the entire top of' the overshoe is made longer, that'is, stretched out,'and the heel of theovershoe is thus tightened up? and firmly secured to the heel of the leather shoe. As stated, the sole of the overshoe' is curved substantially on the arc of'a circle, while the sole of the leather shoe is more nearly straight or flat; and the straightening out of the sole of the overshoecreates this pull and thus holds'the shoe in place. This strain over the top of the shoe, however, is a strain, not only on theovershoe, which tends to shorten the life of the latter and is the cause of many ruptures and breaks in the uppers of the overshoes, but it isalso strain, pressure, and bond upon the foot of the wearer which often causes much discomfort. Many people regard this drawing as an inseparable feature of a rubber shoe, and the same forms one of the grounds of dislike against the wearing of rubber overshoes,

The only relief against this discomfort in overshoes made on this principle is to wear a shoe one or two- Sizes too long and amply wide, but such an overshoe will not stay on,

and the heel portion particularly is continually dropping down under the flexing of the foot of the wearer.

Another plan which has been employed for causing theheel of the overshoe to stick in place, is to construct the heel portion somewhat narrower than the heel of the leather shoe and stiffen or reinforce the sides of the heel so as to produce a lateral wedging or clamping action on the heel of the leather shoe, producing sufiicicnt friction for holding purposes.

Another method of attaining this result is to depend upon building the sole of the overshoe short, and wedging the sole of the leather shoe into such shorter overshoe. In this case there need not be any draft over the top of the foot, butthe holdingon is done by a draft from the toe of the rubber, nevertheless, due to the use of a heavy non-extensible cord that is carried around the toe of the overshoe substantially coincident with the margin of the sole between the toe and the instep, and is then carried up from the instep to the backof the heel.

Still another method which has been proposed is to employ an integral band or rib on the outer sides of the heel extending between the arch and the upper rear portion of the heel. Thismethod is ineffective unless the heel itself be made so short as to be stretched when the overshoe is put on; and if this is the case. the outside rib or band is unnecessary and adds practically nothing to the holding-on quality of the overshoe. Given an overshoe that will drop off from the heel, it is impossible to keep that over shoe on by the constricting pressure of an external rib, band, stay, or other like reinforcing device, for the obvious reason that a constricting pressure cannot be had without a previous expansion, and an external rib or band, whether elastic or inelastic, cannot constrict or tend to constrict beyond its point of ease which is the dimension of the overshoe on which it is formed.

All of these methods have their advantages and disadvantages, which are all well known, but none of them are perfect, and there is much room for improvement.

My present invention is based upon a holding principle that differs from all the foregoing, and consists, broadly stated, in incorporating in the shoe an integral holding or gripping device that is located on, and

' inner rear surface of the heel and obliquely down the sides thereof to or toward the protrudes inwardly from, the inner-surfaces of thesides of the heel, and extends in the general direction of a line connecting the upper rear portion of the heel and the arch. This holding or gripping device may be a continuous member extending around the arch the -sole, or it i'nay consist of a "pair of inwardly protruding ribs or hands on the inner surfaces of the sides of the heel, re-

' spectively, having this generally oblique direction'of extension and of any, suitable or desired length. In ipointof width, the holding or gripping device may be relatively narrow, or of considerable width, according to the kind of over-shoe in which it is embodied or the individual preference of the nianufactur'er. r This holding or grippingdevice, in any of the forms above suggested, constitutes in effect a holding band that hugs or embraces what may be called the waist of the heel. The line that defines this waist runs from the arch or hollmv of the foot dia 'onall 1 general plane of theinnersurface, the holding or gripping "effect of the heel ofthe overshoe upon the heel of theleather shoe may be so secured independently of all the other known methods hereinbefore alluded to, leaving the fore part oftheovershoe entirely free, and without requiring 'eitherurh duefshortenening of theovershoe to secure the holding effect or undue lengthening of the same to secure conifort,or any narrowing of the heel portion, orany upward c'urv; ingfof the sole portion to lproduce a line of pull in the upper region of the ove'rshoe.

In order that my present iniprovei'nent may be readily understood by those skilled in the art, I have illustrated in "the "accompanying drawings several practical and workable forms in which the same may be embodied, and referring thereto+ Fig. 1 is a rofile view of a last for a at ber over-shoe, showing a igIXOOVQ, in the waist portion of the heel designed "to facilitate the manufacture of my improved overs'hoe; the

position of the latter on the last being indicated in the dotted lines.

, Fig. 2, is a vertical transversesectionof the overshoeon the line 22'of .Fig. 3.

Fig. 3 is a vertical longitudinal section 'on the line 3- 3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a sectional detail on the line H oil? Fig. 3, showing thehol ding rib or band protruding through a slit in the lining of the overshoe.

Figs. *5, ennel Tare 'v'i'ews similar to Fig. 3, illustrating optional forms of the holding er grfipping device of the overshoe.

Referring first to Figs. 2 and 3, l0 desighates the upper and 11 the sole of a rubber overshoe, Extending between the upper rear portion of the heel designated by 12 and the arch designated by -1'3 is a ribor band 1 4;- itfha't isloca'ted on and protrudes inwardly from, the inner "surface of the heel portion of 'the upper, and occupies the waist region of the heel above referred to. This r'i-b'or band may conveniently be formed on t-heoverslroe by njreans of a last such as is shown at 15 in Fig. 1, which-is provided with a groove 16 occupying the same relative position asthe 14. -;A- reinf-orcing strip of raw rubberor Other material suitable .t-o iorrnv the rib 14 is pressed into the groove. The upper of the 'overshioe is then built upon the lash-and when the shoe is vulcanized the striplying in the groeve becomes an integral or autogenous riib on the inner surface of the waistline earths heel. Rubber ;ove'rshoes are commonly provided with, :a fabric liningi as indicated at 17in Fig. 4. .;In such cases -I preferab-lyeut a slit in this lining on the section covering the groove or depression in the 'last, -cove1: the last with the lining, and then *applyjthe reinforcing strip on the outside of thalining, but pushing it through the 1 slit the lining down into the groove, soj-that when the finished shoe'coi'nes off the last that-section of the; strip which filled the gr=oove will protrude through the lining and into the inside of the sho .in the .nianner illustrated in Fig, 4. This lfeature,"howevergisnstructural detail, iprefer-ably employed, :but not essential to the invention. 1; InFig. 5 I have illustrated -aholding pr gripping device in the form of an'inwar'dly protruding rib 18 that extends across the rear wall-of the, heel and down both sides, but fstops some distance short of the arch,

the lower ends 18 of;theiribbeingprefen' ably tapereddown flush -with the inner jsurfacesjof-the;sides of the heel. V In -Fi-g. 6;l'have illustrated another modi; lic'ation of the holding orgripping means, consisting of an inwardly @protruding rib l9 on each side wallofthe .heel, unmib stopping short 03E both the arch end the upper rear 'end of the heel, and .prefierably having both ends 19f tapered down flush with the innersurfaee-of the sideof-the heel.

In Fig. 7 I have illustrated astill modification of the holding or, gripping device, consistin;g of a much ider internal protuberance; 20 located shown :and Fdescribed .at 1e inFigs. 2 and Qbvieusly this member 20 may have the same characteristics as to length as the rib 18 of Fig. 5 or the rib sections 19 of Fig. 6, if desired.

In all of the forms shown, assuming that the inner surface of the overshoe has a proper fit on the shoe over which it is worn, it will be manifest that the insertion of the heel of the shoe into the heel of the overshoe creates a stretching or expansion of the internal rib or rib sections, which latter react with a constricting pressure at the waist line of the heel, holding the latter securely on the heel of the shoe. It will be equally manifest that where such a rib or band is applied on the outside of the heel, unless the overshoe is built short relatively to the shoe on which it is worn, there can be no such constricting pressure of the rib or band because there is no stretching or expansion thereof when the heel of the shoe is in the heel of the overshoe.

Different degrees of elasticity may be preferred by different overshoe makers, and for different overshoes by the same maker, and all may be used without going outside the principle of the invention.

It is believed that the foregoing description, taken in connection with the sample forms of the invention illustrated in the drawing, will make clear to those skilled in the art the nature, general structural features, and merits and advantages of the invention; and hence, without at all limiting myself to the particular embodiments herein shown and described, but reserving all such variations and modifications as fairly fall within the spirit and purview of the invention,

, I claim- 1. A rubber overshoe having incorporated therein integral relatively thickened elastic portions protruding inwardly from the inner surfaces of the sides of the heel and extending in the general direction of a line connecting the upper rear portion of the heel and the arch, said thickened portions adapted to be distended by insertion of the heel of the shoe into the heel of the overshoe.

2. A rubber overshoe having incorporated therein integral oblique elastic holding ribs or bands protruding inwardly from the inner surfaces of the sides of the heel, said ribs or bands lying between the upper portion of the heel and the arch and adapted to be stretched lengthwise by insertion of the heel of the shoe into the heel of the overshoe.

3. A rubber overshoe having incorporated therein elastic holding ribs or bands integral with and protruding inwardly from the inner surfaces of the sides of the heel, said ribs or bands extending longitudinally in the general direction of a line connecting the upper rear portion of the heel and the arch and lying in the waist region of the heel and adapted to be stretched lengthwise by insertion of the heel of the shoe into the heel of the overshoe.

EMMETT A. SAUNDERS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0. 

